£190 mln case: IHC to hear Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi’s appeals; rejects sentence suspension pleas

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday fixed May 7 to hear appeals by former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi against their convictions in the £190 million corruption case, while rejecting their separate pleas for suspension of sentences.

In a reserved verdict, the court said that since the main appeals had been scheduled for hearing, the applications seeking suspension of sentences had become infructuous.

A two-member IHC bench headed by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar will take up the appeals.

During earlier proceedings, the court had indicated that an expedited hearing of the main appeals would be the most appropriate course, instead of deciding interim relief requests.

Khan, who has been in prison since August 5, 2023, is currently serving a 14-year sentence at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail in the case, also known as the Al-Qadir Trust case.

An accountability court in Islamabad sentenced Khan and Bushra Bibi to 14 and seven years in prison, respectively, on January 17, 2025. Both later challenged their convictions before the high court.

The case centres on allegations that the couple received billions of rupees and hundreds of kanals of land from Bahria Town Ltd in exchange for facilitating the legalisation of Rs50 billion returned to Pakistan by the United Kingdom during Khan’s tenure in office.

Separately, the court directed the superintendent of Adiala jail to decide within two days on a request filed by Bushra Bibi’s daughter seeking access to a personal physician and permission for family visits.

The court ordered that a reasoned decision be issued and summoned the jail superintendent to appear in person on May 6.

During the hearing, Bushra Bibi’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja told the court that the application had already been submitted to prison authorities both by courier and in person.

He also informed the bench that Bushra Bibi had undergone surgery on the night between April 16 and 17.

Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir said the matter was already in the public domain and that the court was forwarding the request to jail authorities for an appropriate decision.

Bushra Bibi had also approached the court last month seeking suspension of her sentence on medical grounds.

In a related development, the court sought a response from jail authorities in a contempt matter over the alleged failure to arrange a meeting between Khan and his lawyer.

 The court was told that prison officials had yet to sign the counsel’s power of attorney.

The issue relates to a March 2025 court order restoring the jailed former premier’s visitation rights to twice a week.

Separately, the court issued notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan in a petition seeking closure of Khan’s account on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

The petition, filed in September 2025, alleges that inflammatory posts were made from the account.

Further hearings in these matters were adjourned until next week.